Turkish doctors see 300 percent increase in coronavirus cases in November

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) said on Nov. 20 that its own calculations based on data from 1,270 medics in 76 different provinces showed daily COVID-19 cases had surged to more than 47,500. It reported a 300 percent increase in coronavirus cases in November compared to October.

Saturday November 21 2020 02:58 pm

Duvar English

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) said on Nov. 20 that Turkey has seen a 300 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in November, compared to the month before. The TTB made the announcement during an online press meeting, basing its calculations on data from 1,270 medics in 76 different provinces.

The meeting, during which the results of the “TTB November Pandemic Survey on Family Medicine” were shared, was attended by several TTB executives.

“We've lost control of this pandemic. A mentality that puts all the blame on citizens and all the responsibility on health workers couldn't have succeeded, and it didn't," said TTB board member Doğan Eroğulları.

TTB member Emrah Kırımlı said that daily COVID-19 cases have surged to more than 47,500 and about 12,500 of them are located in Istanbul.

The number of COVID-19 patients per family practitioner on average rose to 19.79 patients in Turkey in November, said Kırımlı, with the most noticeable increases having been observed in Istanbul, the western province of Bursa, the capital Ankara, the Aegean province of İzmir, the southern province of Antalya and the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

Some 49 percent of health personnel working at family medicine centers have so far contracted the COVID-19, according to the survey results.

Turkey recorded its highest single-day COVID-19 death toll on Nov. 20, with 141 fatalities reported, according to data from the Health Ministry. The data showed 5,103 new COVID-19 patients were recorded in the country, the second highest new daily figure since the beginning of the pandemic.